Here then is eP's Best and the Rest wrap up for 2001.

You know what I've been listening to recently? An album from 1993: Billy Idol's Cyberpunk. It didn't do all that well and poor Billy saw the writing on the wall and kinda vanished from the music scene after its release. Which is too bad, it is actually very timely right now (it certainly can't hurt that Billy's inspiration, William Gibsons' book Neuromancer, is becoming more and more the template upon which we are coding the 21st century). And maybe when I start labeling Billy Idol as visionary is when my credibility finally dries up, but what has come to the foreground in my wee brain during this extensive retrospection is that sometimes when you hear things, you aren't ready.

I printed out a list of everything that I came across in 2001 and the list ran four pages. I'm not ready to pick ten that I want to remember a decade from now. I probably won't be ready in five years. But, right now, there are a few that I can still hear when they aren't playing.

• Curve, Gift. Shoegazer siren takes your heart; the sinous funk and noise takes your spleen and your liver. You don't miss any of them.
  Click here for the album review.

• Gridlock, Trace. Neither ambient, nor industrial. Neither noise, nor dance music. Gridlock takes everything and makes something extraordinarily beautiful. A new standard.
  Click here for the album review.

• Tarmvred, Subfusc. Noise and beats for dinner. So hearty you could eat it with a spoon. So tasty you're willing to chew through the can.
  Click here for the album review.

• Peter Benisch, Soundtrack Saga. I have two copies. Why? Because when I'm at work, I don't want to not be able to hear it. And the same is true for home. That should be all the endorsement you need. Luminous ambient soundtrack for the best afternoon you ever remember having.
  Click here for the album review.

• If.then.else, Pause. First ambient masterpiece of the 21st century.
  Click here for the album review.

• S.I.N.A., Snapshot. When the S&M dungeons are booked with tourists, I just stay home, slip into the leather suit, hose myself down, put on Snapshot, and let myself dry.
  Click here for the album review.

• H3llb3nt, Hardcore Vanilla. Cyberpunk lounge singers unite! You laugh. It's the future and it's in your kitchen touching its naughty bits to your vegetables right now.
  Click here for the album review.

• tweaker, The Attraction of All Things Uncertain. Doing a review of the album seemed kind of pointless after transcribing an interview where we pretty much discover that the tweaker record is fuckin' fantastic.
  Click here to read the profile.

• Stars of the Lid, The Tired Sounds of Star of the Lid. When you can't get to the never-ending prairie roads or the bleak fog-lined harbors, Stars of the Lid bring them to you. Sense of melancholic nostalgia for a time you never even knew that you could miss included at no extra charge. Because they're such nice guys.
  Click here for the album review.

1. A tie between the Old 97s' Satellite Rides and Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. (I know it's not officially out, but this wonderfully sprawling mess has the damaged allure of Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers--runny mascara and all.)

2. The Foxymorons, Rodeo City.
   Click here to read the profile.

3. Guided by Voices, Isolation Drills.

4. Merle Haggard, Roots, Vol. 1 (Merle has always been way more punk than the corporate wussies on the Warped Tour or Family Values).

5. Fernando, Dreams of the Sun and Sky.

6. Shaver, The Earth Rolls On.

7. The Volebeats, Mosquito Spiral.

8. Beachwood Sparks, Once We were Trees.

9. Weezer, Weezer.

10. The Queers, Live in West Hollywood. (punk legends getting it done in a big way...almost as punk as Merle).

• Pete Yorn. Don't get me started...
  
• Alicia Keys. She writes her own songs, you know!
  
• The Strokes. Nice little Lower East Side combo who actually sound nothing like Television, The Stooges, or the Velvet Underground. Enough with the hype already. I enjoyed the Modern Age EP last year, but the buzz really makes you want to avoid this group.
  
• Elliot Smith. Did he make an album this year? Who cares...he bugs me every year.
  
• Ryan Adams. He's really betraying his talent. Crying shame.

• The Who at Madison Square Garden.
  
• Guided By Voices at Irving Plaza (NYC).
  
• Matthew Sweet at the Bowery Ballroom (NYC).
  
• Richard Buckner at the Larkin (Albany, NY).
  
• Dave Wakeling of the English Beat at SOBs (NYC).

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Album of the Year:

• Diecast, Day of Reckoning (Now or Never Records). Diecast has managed to stick in my head since January. No matter how hard I tried to dislodge them from the top spot, they kept earning it every time I listened to Day of Reckoning. This is pure rocking metal, forged from the fires of Fear Factory and death metal, and perfected on the road. Too many people are lumping this into the hardcore-metal-crossover-nu-metal retreads currently paddling about the pond, and it's unfair. They may have started with their roots in punk (many current extreme music fans cut their teeth on the Sex Pistols and Damned), but they've ended up head over heels (or hells) in metal. Live, Diecast have more energy than a Diehard, and Day of Reckoning should be on every metal radio in the world.

• Pain, Rebirth (Renegade Records). Only a hair away from getting the album of the year, but there are not as many perfect tracks here as on Day of Reckoning, even though it's a close contest. Rebirth is a techno-metal masterwork, and Tagtgren has already stated that his next Pain album is underway in the studio and feels that this newer material is greatly improved. I get scared at how great he is at developing new material both from the producing and creating arenas. Continually, Tagtgren has surpassed expectations, either with his bands (Hypocrisy, Pain, Lockup, Abyss etc.) or his producing from the Abyss Studios. Fans of techno, industrial or metal will rave over Rebirth. "End of the Line" should be the single shaking speakers worldwide.

End of the year lists make you reflect on the quality, quantity, and longevity of the music you stick ahead of all those great releases you'll snub and hear about for weeks on end. These are the releases besides Rebirth and Day of Reckoning that have stuck themselves sideways in my player and refuse to leave. As always, it's been a good year for music.

• Zyklon, World ov Worms (Candlelight Records). Zamoth's kick-ass death metal combo with Destructor, Damien and Trymm. Zamoth's musical outlet for the stress, anger and pain in the modern world. More akin to death and war metal than Emperor, it seems Zamoth only gets meaner with age. This is the definition of aggression musically.
  Click here to read the profile.

• Emperor, Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise (Candlelight Records). The end of the line for the Emperor. A fitting finale from a band that knew when it was time to abdicate and split. Ihsahn, Trymm, Samoth and all the others who have joined in the metal band known as Emperor should be toasted and praised. A fine job, a fitting farewell and we are looking forward to the resurrection rumors to come.

• Cathedral, Endtyme (Earache). Harder and heavier than ever and now without a label. Cathedral should be praised for still being hungry and mean enough after all these years to scowl and growl out an Endtyme and Earache should be kicked in the Endtyme for letting them leave. Lee Dorrian's vocals still set the bar for all other doom bands.

• Spirit Caravan, Elusive Truth (Tolotta). Wino has an odd musical control over my brain. Every album whether by the Obsessed, St. Vitus or Spirit Caravan has left me feeling vaguely déjà vued. The words almost seem to echo from inside of me rather than from another band. Not always unpleasant, often quite comforting, but always unsettling is how I would describe Wino and his doomy metal. Elusive Truth is a dreamy, doomy, disturbing world of Wino wizardry.

• Hangnail, Clouds In the Head Label (Music Cartel). Amazing, Hangnail takes every cliché in doom, metal and rock and melds them together into a fun-filled, doomy fuzz feast for the eras. Clouds will set your feet a tapping, and although it might not inspire world peace or win poetry awards, it will make you shake your smoky, couch potato feathers.

• Opeth, Blackwater Park (Koch Records). The gothic, blackened, romantic Dark Lords of dreamy death metal strike again. Opeth can work their magic to perfection on each release. Not only do I recommend Blackwater Park for those looking for a rewarding, intelligent metal music experience, but I would check out the masterpiece My Arms, Your Hearse. Opeth can steal, eat and melt your heart and you'll gladly let them do again.

• Children of Bodom, Follow the Reaper (Nuclear Blast). Sharper guitars and streamlined metal melodies set the Reaper on fire and will blast your neck and toes straight to the chiropractor. Children of Bodom have bested In Flames with Follow the Reaper, and I'm anxious to see if they can sustain the energy and power on the next release. Until then, this shall have to sustain my need for melody.

• Sodom, M16 (SPV/Steamhammer) No doubt that M16 will make lots of critics tear up their year end lists and start over. Few bands can ever generate this level of venomous hate and belligerence with only three members. Sodom rules the thrash roost. M16 also has a very twisted version of "Surfin' Bird."

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2001 was a mixed bag year at best for hip-hop and R&B music. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, returned while up-and-coming R&B songstress Aaliyah was tragically taken away from us way too soon. Newcomers like Lina promise to keep the future of neo-soul bright, while the King of Pop lives off the past like some sort of musical vampire. Yes, I have issues with his royal outdatedness and his latest release Invincible, which in my humble opinion is blossoming into a contradiction of titanic proportions. Where rap music is concerned all those who were supposed to deliver did: DMX, Jay-Z, and Missy Elliott. But where may I ask was the DJ in all this? Where were the hot new acts? Surely fourth quarter newcomers Bubba Sparks and Petey Pablo weren't all the year had to offer.

Anyway, I can smell an article here so I'll just nip myself and my editor's premonitions in the bud and move things right along. Thus, in no particular order as we're dealing with artists (read: sensitive people), here are the eight albums that I enjoyed and will continue to play long after this year's New Year's Eve hangover wears off.

• Mission Control Presents, Prehistoric Sounds (Featuring Mood). The most slept on hip-hop album of note in the last five years, a rare jewel in raps music's crown, classic.

• DJ Mark Farina, Mushroom Jazz, Volume 3. Down tempo done masterfully enough to warrant being included, electric lounge atmosphere that is simply irresistible.

• Maxwell, Now. Beautiful, sultry, and groovalicious.

• Jadakiss, Kiss Tha Game Goodbye. Don't let the dimples fool ya, this dog ain't that cuddly. Besides, word is when kiss is spittin' they won't love you no more.

• Craig David, Born to Sing. Let's see, he's young, he's handsome...poof...he's a pop star. Thankfully, this tasty little treat is also talented, and a voice so smooth the silkworm union is thinking of suing.

• Nikka Costa, Everybody Got Their Something. Presence, presence, presence. Oh my, and can she sing like nobody's business!

• Janet Jackson, All for You. To me, she's like a good Philadelphia Fevre cheese steak: always tasty, and seemingly better every time I have one.

• Lina, Stranger on Earth. You haven't had a breath of air this refreshing since Erykah Badu dropped Baduizm.

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